UNESCO’s campaign promoting girls’ education attracts over 50 entries

Girls of an ethnic group in Vietnam (Photo:  vietnamnet.vn)

UNESCO launched the communication campaign on social networks in early August by collecting and spreading stories from the community about the importance of education in life.

The stories include those penned by people from ethnic minority groups of Vietnam like Tay, Thai, Ede and H’Mong, who are in different lines of work.

They featured girls who have surmounted difficulties and prejudice to not give up and realise their own dreams.

The campaign earned nearly 300,000 ‘reaches’ in Facebook, which is among the leading social media platforms in Vietnam.

Students at a Vietnamese school pose for a group photo (Photo courtesy of the organisers)

According to UNESCO, the COVID-19 pandemic has closed schools and caused the largest disruption of education in history. More than 1.5 billion students are affected by the pandemic worldwide, of which more than 767 million are girls.

The organisation estimated that more than 11 million female students – from preschool to university – might not return to school last year.

The global campaign #KeepingGirlsinthePicture - "For a future picture with girls" aimed to ensure that girls' learning is not disrupted during school closures, promoting a safe environment for them when educational institutions reopen and calls for efforts to protect the progress made in their education.

In Vietnam, the campaign was implemented within the framework of the project "We are able (Achieving a better living and education)", which was implemented by UNESCO in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Training and the National Assembly’s Committee for Ethnic Minorities Affairs, with the support of CJ Group of the Republic of Korea. It aimed to improve access to education of ethnic minority girls in Ha Giang, Ninh Thuan, and Soc Trang provinces./.